Dying with Curiosity

Well, the Weekend with Family went well, but I did not go to the game in Cochrane. Which meant I was in crazy suspense waiting to find out. Luckily, within minutes of the game ending, or at least within an hour, I saw via the magic of facebook what the final score was.... Drum roll.... 26-0 for Brooks. Awwwww BOOYA! Shutout the team that has been the thorn in our provincial side for as long as I have coached? How sweet it is. The challenge now will be to continue to rise to the challenege of the next two games. We had been gunning so hard for Cochrane. It was a windy day, so the passing game of both teams was severely hampered. Our defense stepped up huge. Apparently even some big plays in the red zone. Oh ho ho ho. It feels so good to think about their season ending this early. Did I mention they have won provincials at this level 6 out of the last 7 years? And that the one time they didn't win they still went to the final? Well, catch this in the face! PS - they also won when I was in grade 11, they beat us in the first round by not too much, if I remember. That means we could have won! This weekend we play Winston Churchill, a school out of Lethbridge. After that, it is either Peace River or Sylvan Lake. Likely it will be Peace River.

Two thumbs up to the B and B we stayed in for the weekend. Having a pool to ourselves and space to play games in (darts, pool, foosball) was very nice. Now if only our kids would sleep.

Pressure Cooker

This weekend is the big event. The ultimate showdown against Cochrane. It is also the Annual extended Family Getaway weekend, or ARFNDAT. I don't remember what that stands for. Something about eating, no doubt. We plan to hit up a B and B in town close to a city. How is that for generic descriptions? It has hiking trails, a movie room, a pool, and a pool table. Good times should be had. If any are up for it, I may try to sneak away to the game, since it is in Cochrane, and that is not too far away. But we shall see.

The Results!

Well, it took some time for me to gather the story, but our team is officially the League Champion! Second year in a row! We won 19-9! 149 yards rushing, 149 yards passing. The symmetry is most delicious. QB won League MVP, and one of my linebackers won Defensive Player of the League. Varly Goot, ya.

Now onto the main challenge of Provincials. The game is next week, so we have a week to heal and get extra practice in. There are some bumps and bruises to rest. The coach also needs to figure out a better way to motivate the team, since they do not seem to respond well to his "you suck" tirades. It would be a shame to have a bad game against Cochrane and lose out on probably our best chance at provincials in a long time. Makes me want to suit up.

Futbol

In recent years, I have told thrilling stories about the life and death of the high school football team that I help coach. Thus far, I haven't done too much of this. So if you have missed it, here you go. But if you are glad it is gone, grin and bear it.

This year's team is small. Both in physical size of the average player and in total number of players. Our quarterback is the son of the coach, and is a standout. Last year he was out for the whole season because of a knee injury the happened playing summer football. This year he is back, and our team is showing it. Last year our QB had a good arm, but was slow of foot, as Moses said. This guy throws just as well (perhaps a little better even) but is shifty and speedy, a veritable greased chicken, as Noah said. He wears a big old knee brace and no one is allowed to touch him in practice, lest he become injured again. This is a little frustrating as a defensive coach, since they give him the ball 9 times out of 10 when the starting defense is practicing, so we are quite practiced up on tagging someone. However, in addition to the iron knee, we also have another player who is shifty and speedy, yea even a little more so. With two speedsters, our offense has some alive this year. Our last game was a good example of this. Final score 49-1. Not too shabby for a semi-final in league playoffs. This Friday is the Final against the same team as last year. We beat them twice this year, but it was the first two games of the year, and teams can be very different a month later. So it is not a given. But we have a good chance to be repeat champions. But even more exciting than this, is that we are ranked 1 in the province for Tier III. This is the first time I know of this happening, and especially that arch-nemesis Cochrane is not ranked ahead of us. We play them first in the playoffs, and it will be the big test. They have ousted us from provincials (and gone on to win the whole thing themselves) every year for as long as I have coached. It would be so gratifying to beat them.

The team has been good defensively, as well as offensively, and all this without the all-star slotback who wrecked his ankle after the first week of practice. We don't know if he will be back, but I hope so. It will make for Eeee Eeee!

My brother suggested this photo:

October Rain

We had hoped to plant grass on our dirt patches this weekend, but then it snowed a big snow. It is mostly melted away now, but everything is too wet to do any seeding. We could always go back to the scatter approach, but apparently it is important to pack the soil down when planting grass. Maybe on Monday? Depends if it dries out enough.

Update: 2 Chronicles.

I was tempted the other day to upgrade to high speed internet at home with one of those mobile tabs you can get through Telus, but I would want to have it with me, and the point of high speed at home would be some it could be used at home. So neggy neggy. It starts at less than $30 a month, but then add system access fees ($7 a month) and pass per kb above your allowed limit, and very quickly it would cost much more. If I were an internet service provider, I would offer service for $20 a month flat. Everyone would switch over, and the volume would cover the shortfall of charging less. Of course, I am not an internet service provider, so I know nothing about how much it actually costs to provide internet.

Thanksgiving

As per usual, turkeys died for our benefit. This past weekend is the first time I have been a part of the butchering since high school. Funny butchering story: turkeys are big and fight a lot harder than chickens, and this time around, sprayed blood up a lot more after the axe came down. First dad got it in the face, which was funny. But then I got it in the face, and I didn't laugh at that. What made it funny was that a neighbor came over to borrow a tractor and was a little taken aback upon seeing dad and I with blood spattered on our faces.

I didn't think I should share that during turkey dinner.

Pet Peeve

Something that annoys me is when a sweet offer is only available in the US. A few things come to mind: cell phone rates, book prices, amazon.com vs. amazon.ca, netflix vs. zip, and nbc.com's streaming tv shows. The latest injustice: bookstore in a box. Our church is hosting a video simulcast by Focus on the Family in November, and they have a program where they send you a box of books that the speakers recommend so you have them on hand if folks who attend want to buy them straightaway. They pay shipping both ways, and you only pay for what you sell. Risk-free! But then when I go to sign up, I discover that they are not shipping outside the continental US (I suppose it would also be annoying to live in Alaska. If you lived in Hawaii, I can't see how anything would be annoying).

I made it through my week long foray into seminary learning, and it was thoroughly enjoyable. I found my professor to be more than simply cerebral. It was clear that his heart was into what he was teaching. I think that made all the difference. I thinking about how when I graduated from college I decided to wait to go to seminary, partly because I wanted a break, and partly because I wanted to have some ministry experience. Looking back, I am pretty glad I made that choice. I don't think I would have the same focus, or ask the same kinds of questions if I had gone straight into seminary. Now I just need to get cracking on all the assignments. I finished two of the papers while there, and one of the textbooks, so now I must read 2 more textbooks, write 3 more papers (one is a biggie), and read 800 pages of extra materials. Hmm, that last one may be the kicker. I don't know if I have that much material to read, and there are no reference libraries close by. I may have to choose a few books off the syllabus and order them.